Indian stock markets surged for a second straight session on Friday helped by gains in consumer durables, healthcare and banking sector shares.
The benchmark BSE Sensex surged 1.19 percent, or 218.68 points, to 18,619.72. The 50 share NSE Nifty gained 1.16 percent, or 62.75 points, to 5,471.80.
Markets opened on a negative note, tracking mixed cues from Asian peers. Both Sensex and Nifty declined in early trade as the rupee plunged to 67.43 per dollar. However, markets later recovered as the rupee erased all the losses to trade higher after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is believed to have intervened in the forex market via PSUs to stem the currency fall. The rupee surged 1.41 percent or 95 paise to 66.44 against the US dollar by the late afternoon trade.
Meanwhile, market participants also opted for caution ahead of the release of India’s gross domestic product (GDP) and fiscal deficit data later in the day. According to the median estimate of 43 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, the Indian economy is expected to grow at 4.7 percent in the second quarter, marginally weaker than the 4.8 percent growth it recorded in the previous quarter.
“One silver lining is that the economy’s increasingly sluggish performance will bring some relief in the form of a smaller current-account deficit. As the full extent of India’s growth slowdown is factored in, there is a rising risk that equity outflows re-intensify, continuing to push down the rupee whatever the authorities do,” Richard Iley, an economist at BNP Paribas SA, wrote in a note e-mailed yesterday, Bloomberg reported.
Among the 13 BSE sectoral indices, consumer durables sector surged 1.90 percent and banking sector advanced 1.59 percent, while IT sector gained 1.54 percent and metal sector plunged 2.05 percent.
The overall market breadth is positive with 1162 advanced against 1069 declines on the BSE.
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets mostly advanced on Friday as a possible US military strike on Syria appeared less likely and an official report overnight showed that the US economy grew much faster than expected during the second quarter.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.12 percent and China’s Shanghai Composite rose 0.06 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI surged 0.99 percent and Japan’s Nikkei declined 0.53 percent.
